Association Between Sleep Duration and Diabetes in Black and White Adults

Diabetes Care: September 11, 2013

OBJECTIVE To examine racial differences in sleep duration and its relationship with diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We used data from a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults (n = 130,943) participating in the National Health Interview Survey from 2004 to 2011. Usual sleep duration was self-reported and categorized as <7 h (short), 7 h (optimal), and >7 h (long). Diabetes status was based on self-reported diagnosis from a health professional.

RESULTS Participants’ mean age was 50.6 years, 49% were men, and 13% were black. Compared with whites, blacks were more likely to report short sleep (37 vs. 28%) and less likely to get 7 h of sleep (24 vs. 33%). Diabetes (9,643 cases [9%] in whites and 3,612 cases [15%] in blacks) had a U-shaped distribution with sleep in whites (10, 7, and 9%, for short, optimal, and long sleep, respectively) and blacks (16, 13, and 15%). Suboptimal sleep duration was more strongly associated with diabetes in whites than in blacks among short (prevalence ratio 1.49 [95% CI 1.40–1.58] vs. 1.21 [1.09–1.34]) and long (1.32 [1.25–1.40] vs. 1.11 [1.00–1.23]) sleepers on the relative scale. Read more